Sochi 2014 Cultural Olympiad Reveals the History of the Mascots of the Olympic Games

The Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee together with the State Darwin Museum and the Central Museum of Physical Culture and Sports, have launched a project to mark the unique Year of the Museum of the Sochi 2014 Cultural Olympiad called "Mascots of the Olympic Games".

Each exhibition will not only show visitors to the Darwin Museum the history of the mascots and the features of the animals they are based on but also key events associated with the Games that they symbolized

(PRWEB) February 22, 2013

The Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee together with the State Darwin Museum and the Central Museum of Physical Culture and Sports, have launched a project to mark the unique Year of the Museum of the Sochi 2014 Cultural Olympiad called "Mascots of the Olympic Games". The main characters will be the animals that are the mascots for both the winter and summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. The exciting project will last until the end of the Games in Sochi in March 2014.

Visitors to the Darwin Museum will see 11 themed exhibitions dedicated to animals that have been mascots for the Games over the years. At each exhibition, which will be in place for a month, visitors can learn about the representatives of the animal world which symbolized the Games of the past.

The first exhibition will be devoted to dachshund Waldi, the symbol of the Games of the XX Olympiad in Munich in 1972. The twelfth and final part of the project which will open together with the XXII Olympic Winter Games in Sochi in 2014, will show all the animal mascots, chief among them the Sochi 2014 Olympic mascots: the Polar Bear, Hare and Leopard.

Each exhibition will not only show visitors to the Darwin Museum the history of the mascots and the features of the animals they are based on but also key events associated with the Games that they symbolized.

The "Olympic Mascots" project is dedicated to the Year of the Museum of the Sochi 2014 Cultural Olympiad and is designed to introduce visitors to the Olympic Movement, to show Olympic and Paralympic Games mascots, and thereby contribute to the promotion of healthy lifestyles.

Notes to the Editor

Sochi 2014 Cultural Olympiad

2013 - The Year of the Museum

The fourth year of the Sochi 2014 Cultural Olympiad is devoted to museums. As always, the organizers of the first Winter Games in the history of Russia will present the public with hundreds of the best cultural events. They include dozens of exhibitions, shows, competitions, festivals, and special exhibitions, as well as forums, workshops and educational programs that will be held throughout the country.

The Year of Museum will include a large number of exhibitions of Russian and foreign art in both public and private museums. At the exhibitions, spectators will get to know the masterpieces of classical and contemporary art in all its variety of genres. Also in 2013, as part of the Cultural Olympiad, there will be theatrical screenings, concerts, and other creative activities.

The Sochi 2014 Cultural Olympiad is a unique project by the organizers of the Games, offering the best cultural events in the country. In 2014 visitors to the Olympic host city will be able to evaluate not only the competition results but also the cultural diversity of Russia at a number of staging venues located in Sochi and Krasnaya Polyana. Therefore, since 2010, the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee, along with dozens of regions throughout the country, has been carefully selecting the best of Russian culture.

From 2010 to 2014, thousands of different cultural events will take place across the entire country. Each year the Cultural Olympiad is dedicated to a special kind of arts: 2010 was the Year of the Cinema, 2011 the Year of the Theater, 2012 the Year of Music, and 2013 the Year of the Museums.

The national scale of the project will make it possible to involve every resident of the country in this grand celebration of music, maintaining and increasing the cultural riches of our country. All of the events of the Cultural Olympiad can be followed on http://www.culture.sochi2014.com

The State Darwin Museum was founded on October 7, 1907 by Alexander F. Coates as the first museum in the world devoted entirely to the theory of evolution.

The main mission of the museum is the collection, preservation, study and exhibition of artifacts illustrating the process of organic evolution on Earth.

Today, the Darwin Museum fund has about 400,000 items, and many of the exhibits are real rarities. The museum also contains a unique collection of books on nature, numbering approximately 8,000 editions. The museum occupies three buildings with a total area of 22,000 sq.m. Each year, the museum provides more than 2,500 excursions.

The exhibition of the museum occupies three floors with total area of 5,000 square meters, and it shows the origin, development and diversity of life on Earth, evolution of animal behavior and their settlement on the planet, the origin of man and the evolution of man's interaction with nature.

The museum exhibition is adapted for people with disabilities of various categories. Ramps, specially equipped toilets, lifts and elevators make the museum accessible to people with disabilities in wheelchairs. Labels with Braille, especially selected collections, plaster casts and models mean blind and visually impaired visitors can visit the museum. All films used in the exhibition are subtitled.